scholarly journals The natech events during the 17 August 1999 Kocaeli earthquake: aftermath and lessons learned

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1129-1140 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Girgin
Keyword(s):  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Emergency Planning ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Acrylic Fiber ◽  
Industrial Facilities ◽  
Kocaeli Earthquake ◽  
The Public ◽  
Emerging Risk

Abstract. Natural-hazard triggered technological accidents (natechs) at industrial facilities have been recognized as an emerging risk. Adequate preparedness, proper emergency planning, and effective response are crucial for the prevention of natechs and mitigation of the consequences. Under the conditions of a natural disaster, the limited resources, the possible unavailability of mitigation measures, and the lack of adequate communication complicate the management of natechs. The analysis of past natechs is crucial for learning lessons and for preventing or preparing for future natechs. The 17 August 1999, Kocaeli earthquake, which was a devastating disaster hitting one of the most industrialized regions of Turkey, offers opportunities in this respect. Among many natechs that occurred due to the earthquake, the massive fire at the TUPRAS Izmit refinery and the acrylonitrile spill at the AKSA acrylic fiber production plant were especially important and highlight problems in the consideration of natechs in emergency planning, response to industrial emergencies during natural hazards, and information to the public during and following the incidents. The analysis of these events shows that even the largest and seemingly well-prepared facilities can be vulnerable to natechs if risks are not considered adequately.

scholarly journals CAESAR II Tool: Complementary Analyses for Emergency Planning Based on Seismic Risks Impact Evaluations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (17) ◽  
pp. 9838
Author(s):  
Giulio Zuccaro ◽  
Daniela De Gregorio ◽  
Mattia Federico Leone ◽  
Salvatore Sessa ◽  
Stefano Nardone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Planning ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
Public Authorities ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Existing Building ◽  
The Public ◽  
Event Reconstruction ◽  
Italian Regions ◽  
Support Mechanisms

Italy is a country with high seismic hazard, however since the delay in the seismic classification of the national territory, most of the existing building heritage does not comply with the current technical standards for buildings. The seismic events that have hit different Italian regions in recent years have highlighted the complexity of the challenge for the public bodies both in the emergency management and post-event reconstruction and in the planning of effective risk prevention and mitigation measures to be implemented in ‘peacetime’. These difficulties concern, in particular, the capacity to properly manage the financial and technical resources available and to identify the intervention priorities throughout the entire emergency cycle. For correct management, the priority is to quantify and localize, through simulations, the quantification of probable damages and to evaluate in terms of cost-benefits the possible alternative strategies for mitigation, also taking into account the potential, in terms of cost-effectiveness, of integrated measures for seismic and energy retrofitting. In this framework, the project CAESAR II (Complementary Analyses for Emergency planning based on Seismic Risks impact evaluations) has been developed as a Decision Support System for Public Authorities in charge of developing Disaster Risk Reduction plans, with the possibility of programming mid to long-term investments for public and private properties, as well as defining custom financial support mechanisms and tax incentives.

Dealing with COVID-19: lessons learned from the Italian experience

Coronaviruses ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 01 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silvana Mirella Aliberti ◽  
Francesco De Caro ◽  
Giovanni Boccia ◽  
Rosario Caruso ◽  
Mario Capunzo
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Risk Assessment ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Coherent System ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Medical Practitioners ◽  
Italian Experience ◽  
Rapid Spread ◽  
Public Health Officials ◽  
Future Plans

: Italy was the first western nation affected by the pandemic and was observed as a pilot case in the management of the new coronavirus epidemic. The outbreak of COVID-19 disease has been very difficult in Italy, on June 25, 2020 there are 239,821 total cases of which 33,592 deaths nationwide. Three lessons emerged from this experience that can serve as a blueprint to improve future plans for the outbreak of viruses. First, early reports on the spread of COVID-19 can help inform public health officials and medical practitioners in effort to combat its progression; second, inadequate risk assessment related to the urgency of the situation and limited reporting to the virus has led the rapid spread of COVID-19; third, an effective response to the virus had to be undertaken with coherent system of actions and simultaneously.

scholarly journals Robust estimation of SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in US counties

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanmo Li ◽  
Mengyang Gu
Keyword(s):  
Transmission Rate ◽  
Public Awareness ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Infectious Period ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Social Distancing ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Us ◽  
Local Officials ◽  
Us Counties

AbstractThe COVID-19 outbreak is asynchronous in US counties. Mitigating the COVID-19 transmission requires not only the state and federal level order of protective measures such as social distancing and testing, but also public awareness of time-dependent risk and reactions at county and community levels. We propose a robust approach to estimate the heterogeneous progression of SARS-CoV-2 at all US counties having no less than 2 COVID-19 associated deaths, and we use the daily probability of contracting (PoC) SARS-CoV-2 for a susceptible individual to quantify the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in a community. We found that shortening by $$5\%$$ 5 % of the infectious period of SARS-CoV-2 can reduce around $$39\%$$ 39 % (or 78 K, $$95\%$$ 95 % CI: [66 K , 89 K ]) of the COVID-19 associated deaths in the US as of 20 September 2020. Our findings also indicate that reducing infection and deaths by a shortened infectious period is more pronounced for areas with the effective reproduction number close to 1, suggesting that testing should be used along with other mitigation measures, such as social distancing and facial mask-wearing, to reduce the transmission rate. Our deliverable includes a dynamic county-level map for local officials to determine optimal policy responses and for the public to better understand the risk of contracting SARS-CoV-2 on each day.

scholarly journals Trusting the Corona-Warn-App? Contemplations on trust and trustworthiness at the intersection of technology, politics and public debate

2021 ◽  
pp. 026732312110283
Author(s):  
Judith Simon ◽  
Gernot Rieder
Keyword(s):  
Technology Development ◽  
Public Debate ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
The Public ◽  
Public Debates ◽  
Moral Duties ◽  
Moral Demands

Ever since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, questions of whom or what to trust have become paramount. This article examines the public debates surrounding the initial development of the German Corona-Warn-App in 2020 as a case study to analyse such questions at the intersection of trust and trustworthiness in technology development, design and oversight. Providing some insights into the nature and dynamics of trust and trustworthiness, we argue that (a) trust is only desirable and justified if placed well, that is, if directed at those being trustworthy; that (b) trust and trustworthiness come in degrees and have both epistemic and moral components; and that (c) such a normatively demanding understanding of trust excludes technologies as proper objects of trust and requires that trust is directed at socio-technical assemblages consisting of both humans and artefacts. We conclude with some lessons learned from our case study, highlighting the epistemic and moral demands for trustworthy technology development as well as for public debates about such technologies, which ultimately requires attributing epistemic and moral duties to all actors involved.

scholarly journals (P2-17) “Burning Valentine,” a Simulated Evacuation Exercise of a Burn Unit (BU)

2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S1) ◽  
pp. s141-s141
Author(s):  
E.L. Dhondt ◽  
T. Peeters ◽  
L. Orlans
Keyword(s):  
Emergency Preparedness ◽  
Fire Detection ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Simulated Patients ◽  
Military Hospital ◽  
Incident Management ◽  
Hospital Emergency ◽  
Burn Care ◽  
Evacuation Drills

BackgroundAccording to the Belgian Hospital Disaster Planning Act, all hospitals are required to have written disaster plans and to routinely conduct annual disaster drills. In 2010, the management of the Military Hospital decided to organize an evacuation exercise of the newly built 24-bed BU.AimTo evaluate this new BU's evacuation plan and drills and the overall hospital emergency incident response and command system.Methods and ResultsIt was decided to conduct a simulated evacuation exercise following an internal fire, before the BU effectively was put into use, thereby deploying fashioned simulated patients and visitors but bringing into action the regular attending medical, nursing and logistic staff. A multidisciplinary design and organizing team was launched, consisting of the hospitals disaster preparedness coordinator, the EMS-staff, external burn care, emergency incident management and operational engineering experts. The appointed objectives for evaluation were the knowledge of the regular evacuation drills, especially the clearance of an intensive care room; access to evacuation routes; visibility of safety guidelines; mission and tasks of the hospital's first response team and the medical incident manager; communication and information flow and the establishment of the hospital's coordination committee. In the mean time and following lessons learned, a number of mitigation measures have been instituted: adequate identification of evacuated rooms, new configuration of the fire detection alarm, optimized access to stairwells and elevators, adjustment of action cards and specific fire fighting training for hospital staff. Finally the decision was made not to purchase specific evacuation equipment for the movement of patients.ConclusionTaking advantage of the BU's provisional vacancy, a simulated hospital evacuation exercise increased the hospital emergency preparedness, awareness and response to disasters within the hospital, in particular in a critical care department, otherwise difficult to assess.

scholarly journals Continuity, focus and impact: a commented historical perspective on Embrapa Vegetables' extended Capsicum breeding program

2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco JB Reifschneider ◽  
Carlos A Lopes ◽  
Cláudia SC Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Breeding Program ◽  
Germplasm Bank ◽  
The Public ◽  
Continuous Activity

ABSTRACT The article describes the origin, development and main results of Embrapa Vegetables' Capsicum breeding program, a continuous activity for more than three decades. The article points out and highlights how partnerships, both in Brazil and abroad, both with the public and the private sectors, were vital to the success of the program. The article also glosses over the development of the Capsicum germplasm bank and its importance to the breeding program, concluding with a set of faced challenges and lessons learned which might be of interest to other similar programs.

Identification of Failure Modes Under Design Extension Conditions

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoto Kasahara ◽  
Izumi Nakamura ◽  
Hideo Machida ◽  
Hitoshi Nakamura ◽  
Koji Okamoto
Keyword(s):  
High Temperature ◽  
Nuclear Power ◽  
Failure Modes ◽  
Low Cycle Fatigue ◽  
External Pressure ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Local Failure ◽  
Severe Accident ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Loading Mode

As the important lessons learned from the Fukushima-nuclear power plant accident, mitigation of failure consequences and prevention of catastrophic failure became essential against severe accident and excessive earthquake conditions. To improve mitigation measures and accident management, clarification of failure behaviors with locations is premise under design extension conditions such as severe accidents and earthquakes. Design extension conditions induce some different failure modes from design conditions. Furthermore, best estimation for these failure modes are required for preparing countermeasures and management. Therefore, this study focused on identification of failure modes under design extension conditions. To observe ultimate failure behaviors of structures under extreme loadings, new experimental techniques were adopted with simulation materials such as lead and lead-antimony alloy, which has very small yield stress. Postulated failure modes of main components under design extension conditions were investigated according three categories of loading modes. The first loading mode is high temperature and internal pressure. Under this mode, ductile fracture and local failure were investigated. At the structural discontinuities, local failure may become dominant. The second is high temperature and external pressure loading mode. Buckling and fracture were investigated. Buckling occurs however hardly break without additional loads or constraints. The last loading is excessive earthquake. Ratchet deformation, collapse, and fatigue were investigated. Among them, low-cycle fatigue is dominant.

scholarly journals RESOURCE SUPPLY AN ACCESSIBILITY OF PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES

YMER Digital ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 446-455
Author(s):  
Eshetu Mathewos Juta ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Public Transportation ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Assessment System ◽  
Behavioral Changes ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
The Public ◽  
Urban Mass Transit ◽  
Transportation Accessibility ◽  
Private Actors ◽  
Transportation Facilities

The term “urban mass transit” generally refers to scheduled intra-city service on a fixed route in shared vehicles. Public transportation is an important contributing factor to urban sustainability. Effective transportation networks that incorporate public transit livable by easing commute and transportation needs and increasing accessibility. To assess public transportation accessibility in metropolitan networks, two indices are used: the supply level of urban public transportation facilities resource and the public transportation-private automobile traveling time ratio. As the research in the Wolaita sodo town region and the assessment system, an evaluation technique for urban public transportation facility resource supply is developed based on accessibility. Accessibility is a representative indicator for evaluating the supply of bus system. Traditional studies have evaluated the accessibility from different aspects. Considering the interaction among land use, bus timetable arrangement and individual factors, a more holistic accessibility measurement is proposed to combine static and dynamic characteristics from multisource traffic data. The objective is to highlight the main lessons learned and identify knowledge gaps to guide the design and evaluation of future transport investments. Moreover, studies looking at ways to improve the operational efficiency of systems and those seeking to promote behavioral changes in transport users offer great potential to generate learning that is useful for the public and private actors involved.

scholarly journals The unintended consequences of COVID-19 mitigation measures matter: practical guidance for investigating them

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anne-Marie Turcotte-Tremblay ◽  
Idriss Ali Gali Gali ◽  
Valéry Ridde
Keyword(s):  
Unintended Consequences ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
World Health ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Extensive Experience ◽  
Systematic Assessment ◽  
Practical Guidance ◽  
Conducting Research ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background COVID-19 has led to the adoption of unprecedented mitigation measures which could trigger many unintended consequences. These unintended consequences can be far-reaching and just as important as the intended ones. The World Health Organization identified the assessment of unintended consequences of COVID-19 mitigation measures as a top priority. Thus far, however, their systematic assessment has been neglected due to the inattention of researchers as well as the lack of training and practical tools. Main text Over six years our team has gained extensive experience conducting research on the unintended consequences of complex health interventions. Through a reflexive process, we developed insights that can be useful for researchers in this area. Our analysis is based on key literature and lessons learned reflexively in conducting multi-site and multi-method studies on unintended consequences. Here we present practical guidance for researchers wishing to assess the unintended consequences of COVID-19 mitigation measures. To ensure resource allocation, protocols should include research questions regarding unintended consequences at the outset. Social science theories and frameworks are available to help assess unintended consequences. To determine which changes are unintended, researchers must first understand the intervention theory. To facilitate data collection, researchers can begin by forecasting potential unintended consequences through literature reviews and discussions with stakeholders. Including desirable and neutral unintended consequences in the scope of study can help minimize the negative bias reported in the literature. Exploratory methods can be powerful tools to capture data on the unintended consequences that were unforeseen by researchers. We recommend researchers cast a wide net by inquiring about different aspects of the mitigation measures. Some unintended consequences may only be observable in subsequent years, so longitudinal approaches may be useful. An equity lens is necessary to assess how mitigation measures may unintentionally increase disparities. Finally, stakeholders can help validate the classification of consequences as intended or unintended. Conclusion Studying the unintended consequences of COVID-19 mitigation measures is not only possible but also necessary to assess their overall value. The practical guidance presented will help program planners and evaluators gain a more comprehensive understanding of unintended consequences to refine mitigation measures.

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